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The Gall To Our 
Red Gross 



A statement on behalf of the 

War Council of the 

American Red Gross 



By 
H. P. DAVISON 



A 



The Call To Our 
Red Cross 



A statement on behalf of the 
War Council of the 
American Red Gross 



H. P. DAVISON 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

May 24th, 1917 






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The Call To Our Red Cross. 



A conference of representatives from 40 dif- 
ferent cities, invited to Washington by President 
Wilson to make plans to raise the money with 
which to finance the Red Cross during the 
war, was held here on May 24th. At this con- 
ference Henry P. Davison, recently appointed by 
the President as Chairman of the Eed Cross War 
Council, made a statement, setting forth the 
needs and opportunities of the Red Cross. He 
declared that to comply with even the minimum 
duties and opportunities of the American Red 
Cross would require a fund of |100,000,000. Mr. 
Davison said : 

''The most stupendous and appealing call in 
the history of the world to aid suffering human- 
ity confronts our Red Cross. Millions of men 
who have been fighting for liberty lie dead or 
wounded; millions of women and children are 
homeless and hel])loss; hundreds of toT\ms and 
villages have been destroyed ; disease and distress 
are rampant. 



"Up to now, our own people have not suffered. 
While Europe has been pouring out her life- 
blood, America has experienced a prosperity she 
had never known before. 

''But now we ourselves are in this gigantic war. 
We now see that the struggle against autocracy 
and tyranny which our Allies have been making 
is and has from the first been, in reality, no less 
our struggle than theirs. We ourselves must 
now share the suffering which they have endured , 
we, too, must bear the burdens and we miust do 
our part in a very real way. 

''Our Red Cross is a vital factor in the strug- 
gle. To promote efficiency in administering its 
great responsibilities, the President of the 
United States has created a Red Cross War 
Council. We of the Council know now only 
what the minimum requirements are. But we 
know already that the needs which our Red Cross 
can alone supply are at present beyond com- 
putation. 

"Something of what we must expect to do and 
something of the sacrifices which we must ex- 
pect to make will be indicated by the following 
summary of the veiw present situation: 

"Hundreds of American doctors and nurses 
are already at the front. A force of 12,000 
American engineers will soon be rebuilding 
the railroads of France. Upwards of 25,000 
American men are now on the battlefields of 
Europe, fighting as volunteers in the Allied 
armies; soon, 25,000 American regulars will be 
added to their number. All our National 
Guard is to be mobilized, our regular Army is 
to be recruited to full strength, and 500,000 



other men are shortly to be called to the colors. 
Within a few months we should and will have 
in service an army of 1,000,000 and a navy 
of 150,000 men. 

"These men must have of our best. To prepare 
against their needs in advance will be a stu- 
pendous task which the Red Cross must under- 
take. Doctors, nurses, ambulances, must be 
made ready. Vast quantities of hospital stores, 
linen, bandages and supplies of every kind 
must be prepared and at once. If we wait, it 
may be too late. When we ask our own sons and 
brothers to fight for our liberty 3,000 miles from 
home in a country already sore and afflicted, 
surely we cannot do less than prepare to take 
care of them in their day of suffering. 

"Gallant Canada from 8,000,000 population 
raised an army of 450,000 men. Eighty thousand 
are dead or injured, and Canada has raised in 
value 116,000,000 for the Red Cross to relieve her 
sick and wounded. Her Red Cross, thus vitalized 
by the sacrifice of those at home, has been able to 
save thousands from death or misery. 

"Immediately our soldiers go into camp, their 
dependent families will becomes a problem.. Ob- 
viously, in a country the size of our o^vn, tlie 
proper and practical way to distribute both the 
burdens and the benefits fairly and uniformly 
will be through the Government itself. This is es- 
pecially fitting when voluntary contributions must 
meet such enormous requirements in other fields. 
There will undoubtedly arise a large number of 
special cases requiring additional or unusual as- 
sistance. Such assistance should be made sys- 



tematic largely through local chapters of the 
Red Cross. 

''When our men go to France, we must not 
only prepare to take care of them when sick and 
wounded: another very serious problem will con- 
front them and will confront us in our care and 
forethought on their behalf. Englishmen and 
Frenchmen, when, from time to time, they are 
relieved from their grim duties in the trenches, 
go home. The soldiers from other countries on 
the firing line cannot go home; there is no hom'3 
to go to! They go to Paris. Many of them do 
not return from Paris as efficient soldiers as 
they were when they went there. Our American 
soldiers must have a home in France, somewhere 
to rest, somewhere to find a friendly atmosphere, 
somewhere to go for recreation and wholesome 
amusement. These men will be returning to this 
country some day. We want to make it certain 
that as many as possible return in health and 
strength, and not afflicted with disease from 
which our forethought might have protected them. 
The Red Cross must — and it alone can — become 
a real Foster Parent of our soldiers while they 
are in Europe. To perform that function well 
will require a large sum of money. 

"The needs of France cannot but stir the heart 
of every American. Tuberculosis has become 
prevalent as a result of this trench war. And 
the disease is spreading. Here is a call not only 
to aid the brave and liberty-loving French 
people, but also to help make this afflicted 
country healthy for our own sons and brothers 
who are soon to be there in such great numbers. 



"Some 1500 towns and villages have been de- 
stroyed in France. In her devastated regions, 
men, women and children are homeless and suf- 
fering for the barest necessities of life. We 
ought at the earliest moment to provide these 
peoples with the simplest essentials to begin 
life anew. Tli-ey need clothing, agricultural 
implements, domestic animals, especially horses 
and cows, seeds, fertilizers, tools, bedding, stoves 
and the elementary materials with which to 
cover themselves by day and by night. Some 
idea can be formed of the amount involved in 
such an undertaking with the knowledge that 
Mr. Hoover, through his magnificent organiza- 
tion, has advanced for Governments and from 
private subscriptions $350,000,000 for relief in 
Belgium. If there were no thought of protec- 
tion and provision for our own people in France 
can vre hesitate to provide generously from our 
plenty that we may show some appreciation of 
our everlasting debt to the people of our sister 
I'epublic? 

"We should do something and do it immediate- 
ly to hearten afflicted Russia. On the Russian 
line of 1,000 miles there are only 6,000 am- 
l)nlances, while on the French front of 400 miles 
there are 64.000 ambulances fully equipped. Be- 
hind the lines in Russia are millions of refugees 
from Poland, Lithuania and W^estern Russia — 
driven from their homes by tlie German and Aus- 
trian armies, Avandering from city to city, 
crowded into unfit habitations, huddled in 
stables, cellars and outhouses, and dying from 
disease due to exposure and irsufficient food. 

"Russia needs our trained women to instruct 
hers in the art of nursincr; she needs enormous 



quantities of the elementary articles necessary 
to relieve the very worst cases of pain and 
suffering. Probably nothing that can be done 
immediately will do more to win this war than 
to strengthen Eussia. The opportunity and the 
duty here alone are almost without limit in ex- 
tent. Our Red Cross is the one agency which 
can exert itself effectively in this terrible emer- 
gency. 

"The foregoing are but the greater and more 
urgent needs of the moment. Other work of 
great magnitude must be done. Our Red Cross 
must maintain a supply service whereby all 
the contributions in kind which our people make 
can be efficiently distributed. We must organize 
comprehensive plans to keep the families and 
friends of our soldiers and sailors informed as 
to the wounded and missing. 

"Indeed the duties and the opportunities which 
confront our Red Cross have no precedent in 
history and are not within human estimate 
today. The War Council, however, can make 
definite plans and budgets only to the extent to 
which it is supported by the generosity of the 
American people. 

"At the moment, the real question is not so 
much how mucli money ^ve need but rather how 
much can be spent wisely and made effective 
in the immediate future. The War Council, 
therefore, after carefully considering the matter, 
is certain that even to approach compliance witli 
the most pressing needs will require at least 
|1 00.000,0,00. 

''It is an enormous problem; it must be handled 
with a big heart, with a broad vision, and with 

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the highest business ability. The War Council 
regards its task as a very sacred trust and it will 
give to this labor of humanity the best ability 
at its command. 

"If each individual American now contributes 
his 'bit,' there can be no failure. America will, 
we feel sure, in this again demonstrate her ability 
to handle a big task in a big way. That we may 
be able to perform this great task, we shall ap- 
peal to the generosity and for the hearty co- 
operation of the whole American people. 

"If, in making a survey of the obligations 
and opportunities of our Red Cross, a gloomy pic- 
ture is drawn, we must not be discourag-ed, but 
rather rejoice in this undertaking and in the con- 
fidence that we can by our voluntary action ren- 
der a service to our afflicted allies which will for 
all time be a source of pride and satisfaction in 
a good deed well done. As President Wilson has 
said: 'But a small proportion of our people can 
have the opportunity to serve upon the actual 
field of battle, but all men, women and children 
alike may serve, and serve effectively.' We 
must and will all immediately concentrate our 
energies and efforts and by contributing freely to 
this supreme cause, help win the war." 



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